A milestone in greener lighting
Toronto Star / Tyler Hamilton / 29 August 2010
It passed by without much mention, but early this summer a major milestone was reached in the realm of LED lighting.
Home Depot quietly began taking online orders for a light-emitting diode (LED) bulb designed to replace a standard 40-watt incandescent bulb. It consumes only 8.6 watts of power, boasts superior light quality, can be dimmed, and unlike compact fluorescent bulbs doesn’t contain any mercury.
The milestone is that Home Depot is selling this bulb for $20 (U.S.), half the price of most other retail offerings. Sounds pricey, yes, but keep in mind the bulb is supposed to last more than two decades and will save you at least $200 in energy costs over that time.
Industry watchers say the bulb, made for Home Depot by Lighting Sciences Group, will put pressure on other bulb manufacturers, including General Electric, Philips and Osram Sylvania, to speed up their own production plans and push costs down.
A number of manufacturers are expected to come out with 60-watt equivalent LED bulbs before year’s end. It will be interesting to see what price points they hit.
A discussion on current lighting technologies and home implementations of them:
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6897/709681